After six weeks of rumours and escalating expectations, Nintendo chose to open its first Nintendo Direct of 2019 by revealingSuper Mario Maker 2, and as opening gambits go, it was a winner.

The original Wii U game launched back in September 2015 and absolutely nailed the basics, providing an intuitive interface with incredible depth, couched in that trademark Nintendo charm. Players of all abilities were able to create their own Mario levels and switch at will between four game ‘palettes’ spanning the plumber's illustrious 2D career, from the original Super Mario Bros. to New Super Mario Bros. U.

Although it was an absolute treat for Wii U owners (and later 3DS gamers), there were a few issues that players ran into, and wish lists soon started cropping up full of potential features to add to the game. Nintendo implemented some of these – checkpoint flags, for example – but anyone hoping for new game ‘palettes’ or slopes to slide down was left disappointed.

Fast forward to 2019, and it seems many gamers’ prayers have been answered. The very first seconds of Mario Maker 2’s reveal highlighted the most requested feature of all: frickin' slopes. It went on to detail a whole lot more, including a Super Mario 3D World ‘skin’ plus associated elements, Desert, Snow and Jungle levels, Angry Sun guy… the list goes on.

Of course, we Nintendo gamers are a demanding bunch, and seeing all these new additions has only fired our imaginations up even more. So, let’s stoke the furnace a little and talk about what else we’re hoping to see revealed in the upcoming game; things that’ll make it feel like a real sequel and not something that could have been DLC or included in the ‘Deluxe’ Wii U port that many people expected.

We’ve divided our list into three sections: 'likely', 'possible' and 'not-in-a-month-of-Sundays'. That last section features some really outlandish ideas, but let us dream!

Onwards!

Likely

Toad And Toadette As Playable Characters

Thanks to the above promotional image, it’s a pretty safe bet that we’ll be able to play as Toad and Toadette. Although we’ve yet to see Luigi in-game, his prominent placement in the promo art makes him and his fluttery jump a dead cert, too. It will be very interesting to see if their different characteristics affect each character’s ability to complete a level. Perhaps there’ll be sets of levels that can only be completed using Luigi and his special jump, for example. While we confess we’re not the biggest fans of the Toads outside of a Mario Karting or Treasure Tracking context, variety is never a bad thing. Perhaps Toadette’s special abilities from New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe will also be in evidence here.

Multiplayer

Switch’s focus on local multiplayer means it would fit very nicely and open up all sorts of exciting potential for co-op or competitive play. Imagine a simple level with switches that you must hit to let your partner through, or alternatively, obstruct their progress. Whether this will extend to four-players is another matter, but if the original game taught us anything, it’s that people can construct some incredible contraptions from the tools they’re given. The thought of four-player levels displaying the sort of ingenuity we saw in user-created levels from the last game is tantalising.

Additional Powerups

The Mario series has always been filled with incredible power-ups, but they can often be quite hard to come by. Think back to Super Mario Bros. 3 – the Frog Suit and the Hammer Suit were fairly rare finds, and more often than not we’d run into a goomba and lose the thing the moment we found it anyway, so it’d be fantastic to have access to these in Mario Maker. Items from later games would be great, too; the Tiny Mushroom would make for some intricate maze running, although it would probably need a host of miniaturised elements to go with it and the Giant Mushroom would perhaps cause too much mayhem. The Double Cherries from Super Mario 3D World would be a riot, though, and we’d love to see, say, the Bumblebee Suit from the Galaxy games. Who knows? If Toadette features in the game, perhaps the Super Crown will be amongst the new power-ups, too.

Moving swiftly on, let’s have a look at things we think are possible, though less certain than the above…

Possible

New Skins/Styles/Palettes/Themes/Whatever You Want To Call Them

Dreaming of SMB2...

The four game ‘skins’ in the first Mario Maker gave an excellent overview of the plumber’s career, but almost immediately we began imagining other styles. Super Mario Bros. 2 (or Super Mario Bros. USA as it’s known in Japan) is the obvious missing link for players in the west, and while we appreciate it was a mechanically different game, those mechanics aren’t strictly necessary if we just wanted the ‘skin’. Of course, implementing the vegetable digging and throwing mechanics of Doki Doki Panic would be amazing, but we’d take a SMB2 palette if that were the only option.

Elsewhere, how about a Game Boy theme aping Super Mario Land or Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins? The latter would probably be easier to implement, and we’re not sure we really want an accurate reproduction of Super Mario Land’s ‘interesting’ physics. For the time, it was an incredible approximation of the original NES game on the diminutive Game Boy, but the sequel did a much better job of capturing the look-and-feel of the series on the portable. We got the cute Plane Mario costume in the original game, but a complete palette would be great.

Lastly, a Super Mario 64 skin would surely be a winner. Yes, it’s a 3D game but so is Super Mario 3D World and that’s already in here! The crude 3D polygonal style of the mid-to-late ‘90s is back in vogue and it would be a wonderful nostalgia trip to bounce on little angular goombas and watch them disappear with a wisp of smoke, perhaps while the Bob-omb Battlefield music plays in the background.

Gravity Switches/Zones

We’ve seen gravity switches and zones in previous Mario games, and we think they’d fit in very well in Mario Maker. Zones could be ‘painted’ onto the background and there's all sorts of potential in throwing shells at just the right angle to negotiate a fiendish gravity well, hit a switch and open a door or some such thing.

Worlds And Maps

Ah, this is the biggie. After slopes, it was this that people were clamouring for in the original game – the ability to string four levels together and make a proper ‘World’. Without it, the levels are individual curios, but the inclusion of this would mean people could really make – and share – their own Mario ‘games’. Adding a World Map would be the icing on the cake; adding multiple routes, secret exits, Toad Houses, Hammer Bros. encounters and those card matching games would be a dream come true. Perhaps all of this is too much to hope for, but it would be wonderful.

Text Boxes

If we’re able to link together levels to form ‘Worlds’, it would be nice to be able to add a micro-narrative to our creations. Freeform text opens a Pandora’s Box of unsavoury possibilities, so we doubt that will happen – but why not a Dark Souls-style set of jigsaw words and phrases that could be plugged together and assigned to NPCs or ‘?’ Blocks?

Importing Wii U levels

After the countless hours we invested in the original game, it would be excellent to salvage our creations and import them into the new game. While some people may still have their Wii U readily available, many more will likely have packed the console away. Technically, linking to an old Nintendo Network account should be easy enough, and while the engine might have changed substantially, it surely wouldn’t be impossible to convert those old files to run in the new game, even if it required players to recomplete old stages to authenticate them.

Without knowing more behind-the-scenes technical details, it’s tough to know, but Wii U gamers would be very appreciative to be able to access their previous masterpieces on Switch.

Music Creation Tools

Finally, expanded tools for music creation would be something special. The original game had limited functionality, enabling you to assign tones to in-level note boxes which led to some impressive auto-run musical creations. We’d like to see that go a step further and be able to create our own themes in a Mario Paint-style editor. Of course, we’re not suggesting we could create anything near the level of Nintendo’s composing wizards – we’re no Koji Kondo, that’s for sure – but we’ve been practising with our Animal Crossing town theme and we’re ready for a broader palette. Who could resist a Mario X Daft Punk crossover?

So, that’s the end of the credible ideas. Now it’s time to go off the deep end and dive into pure speculative lunacy. There’s virtually no chance we’ll see any of these, but we can dream.

The Completely Outlandish

Let’s kick off this last little section with a couple of ‘skin’ or palette ideas. Yoshi’s Island still stands up today as one of Nintendo’s best-looking platformers; we adore the look of it, and it would make a wonderful addition to the line-up. Of course, it would probably mean we’d need the egg throwing mechanic and whining Baby Mario, too; perhaps too much of a price to pay, but it would look lovely.

The last style on our list is a Paper Mario palette. Even more so than Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario Bros. 2, the gameplay here would not transfer in any way, but Paper Mario’s 2D aesthetic is gorgeous and we’d snap it up.

While we’re on the topic of Paper Mario (and while we’re really getting into cloud cuckoo territory), can you imagine rotating the whole world 90° around the Y-axis? We still remember the first time that happened in Super Paper Mario and it was an incredible moment. The gameplay implications would make it almost impossible here, but let’s just ruminate on that for a moment…

Brain scrambled? Don’t worry – our last one is something less mind-bending, although the sheer amount of work involved probably makes it prohibitive. Imagine the Mystery Mushroom costumes – those 8-Bit characters you unlocked through challenges or tapping amiibo to the GamePad – that carried across the art styles. In addition to 8-Bit versions, you’d have the 16-Bit version of Samus, Sonic and co. in the Super Mario World palette. What about the 3D versions in the New Super Mario Bros. palette and beyond? That alone would be over 150 fully animated 3D character and vehicle models. We’d also want all the new amiibo that have come out in the interim. Oh yes, you see now why this is in the final section. Ah, but what a beautiful dream!

Phew! That’s it for our far-reaching (and increasingly outlandish) round-up of expectations for Super Mario Maker 2. Which of these do you see making the grade in the final game? What have we missed that you think would make a great addition? Let us know in the comments below.

Gavin loves a bit of couch co-op, especially when he gets to delegate roles, bark instructions and give much-appreciated performance feedback at the end. He lives in Spain (the plain-y bit where the rain mainly falls) and his love for Banjo-Kazooie borders on the unhealthy.

I just hope it has some way of allowing you to insert a link to another stage you make, in case you make a series of themed ones that you want to function as a whole world, or otherwise play in order to tell a narrative.

@Sabrewing you are way more creative than me. I loved super Mario Maker on Wii U, it was pure fun but I’m really just not very creative. I did make a Michael Jackson course though, that I was quite proud of!

Toad, Toadette, this and that... and no mention of the princesses themselves as playable characters? Come on now, really. If there's no Super Princess Daisy, an option to make my own personal Super Princess Daisy feat. Peach would be a neat alternative. And don't get me started on the thought of a Rosalina game...

Then again, I suppose the diversity of artstyles may be an ironic obstacle here, potentially forcing the team to design new looks and movesets where there were none (like SMB/SMB3 levels). Then again, if NL deems Toadette possible despite this...

My two big ones are the ability to carry over my Wii U levels, and the ability to actually organize uploaded levels - by order and preferably even folders. I specialize in music levels, which I could put in one folder, but also made plenty of regular levels, which I could put in another.

And seeing as I specialize in music levels, I would be all for specialized music creation tools - though I'll take I can get either way.

Having world maps would be amazing, as long as they're optional. Give people the choice to make disconnected, independent levels, or to create a set of levels joined together by a common theme and placed on a distinctive world map all finished off with a creative boss level.It would make the game a true Mario Maker; you're not just making Mario levels, but entire Mario games. I, for one, would absolutely love that.

Worlds would be awesome! Creating just ONE level seems fun until you're like ... oh that's all that it is. Whereas if you could publish both individual levels but also create WHOLE GAMES. Imagine how fun it would be to have somebody over and be like, "Let's play this Mario game I MADE!"

I'd love it if they also went and remade SM3 and World in Maker. Like give me the tools to make every enemy, do everything that they could in the original games. Give me rolly wheel ground, and chunks of the ground that move up and down like in Mario World.

I also really would love to see coloured Yoshies that do the whole pound, fly, and spit fire things that the originals did.

The thing is the work to create new game types like the gameboy versions would be a lot of work that wouldn't have as much pay off unless you're putting in very different movement mechanics.

I'd really love it if they had one mode with EVERY power up in it. It'd probably have to be 3D world. I also want to be able to do things like drag a cat bell onto a hammer bro and create a crazy assed cat hammer bro!

I'd also love to see Daisy and Peach as character options along with Rosalina. PLUS if they really wanted to turn the hype up to a billion they could include Wario and Waluigi as playable characters with different movement options. Wario could use his tackle animation from the Game Boy game. Waluigi could be Luigi's jump but because he's so 'crazy' have permanent ice physics!

That'd be a great way for Nintendo to both give fan service to the Waluigi fans but also troll them.

There's really only one thing I want to see: game physics matching the skins. As soon as the announced that sometime during development of the first mario maker that they were no longer doing that and instead making the nsmb physics universal, I lost interest in the game.

Mario Land 1 and 2 themes and worlds would be great additions too though

I was about to say "Wii U backwards compatibility", but the article beat me to it. Integrating one's own Wii U levels in his or her Switch online profile - maybe with additional online slots to reward first adopters - would be killer.

But the mere existence of a sequel for a console too successful to "need" a Mario Maker is already plenty to be thankful for.

@PocketQ3 Probably not going to happen. People won’t keep the pixel art G rated. Of course, there already was a way to report levels with offensive material (i.e. bricks or coins spelling inappropriate messages)

I would really like to see not only the skins but the mechanics of Super Mario 2/USA. I want to be able to pick up enemies and items, pick vegetables, have potions and hide mushrooms in subspace, dig in the sand, and have locked doors and keys with Phantos chasing when the key is held. Super Mario Bros 2/USA is the most adventure like of all the 2D Mario games and building and playing those kind of levels would be a blast. I'm not expecting any of that, but I really want my favorite 2D Mario game represented.

@Heavyarms55 Many have already made this point, but a Zelda Dungeon Maker could be a whole separate game. Though this may be too repetitive compared to the variety of experiences offered with Mario platforming.

One thing the Wii U version lacked was alternate soundtracks and environments. Slopes... everything. As more than welcome as Mario Maker 2 is on Switch, I really think they left the first one watered down and stripped bare on purpose. Which is a shame. Hopefully they’ll lose that anxiety of potentially “killing” future Mario games and really let us have some tools, creative freedom, and maybe even DLC.

The biggest thing that needs fixing imo is the interface for discovering levels. The Wii U version was cumbersome and quickly got overrun with auto run or concept levels, rather than clever design. I ended up manually entering level ids from the internet rather than using the tools within the game.

I would love a world map creator, too! I think it'd be sweet if they put in multiple playable characters like Luigi, Peach, Toad, Toadette, Rosalina, etc., as well as extra music tracks for each level players make (example being you can pick the Mario Circuit theme from Super Mario Kart for one of your levels). More power-ups would be cool too.

I haven't even touched the original Super Mario maker on Wii U. I'm just not all that interested in level creation, but I wouldn't mind playing other bizarre challenging stages that other people have created, so there's that. 😛

And speaking of Mario can we please get a Super Mario Bros. 5 already? Using similar toon art for mario like the old Mario Bros manuals and GB Land series box art.
Super Mario land 2's box art has the perfect looking mario IMO.

As far as I'm concerned Super Mario world was the last true 2D Mario, the NSMB series are forgettable recycled uninspired bland generic ugly unimaginative lame unchallening cash grabs with horrible soundtracks to boot. 😧

Don't get me wrong the platforming at its core is good stuff but that's reallllly about it. 1, 2, 3 and world are the REAL deal amigos

I'm just not a fan of selling full priced level editors that aren't attached to a full game. LBP 1-3 were level editors that each included a story. Dreams is supposed to have a short story mode. Most level editors are attached to games. I've read the Wargroove editor is supposed to be very good.

It's been how many years since the last real 2D Mario game, NSMBU, surely they could have come up with 40 or so new levels since then.

@Tandy255 Which is why I think it would be easier and more interesting to just throw Link into Mario Maker. But it's just my opinion and even I doubt it will ever happen - outside of some mod in the distant future.

I hope music isn't tied to the level theme anymore, and you could pick from a variety of tracks from all Mario games. Like obviously Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy isn't going to be a level theme within the game, but I would love to have some music from those as an option.

1) customisable physics - if for example the original Super Mario Land is added as a skin, then Nintendo would need to implement the individual physics of each game into the skins (which I'm totally down for) as that game wouldn't work at all with the physics of the other games but I'd like them to go a step further and allow users to customise the physics themselves (i.e sliders affecting jump height, fall rate, stopping speed etc etc).

2). Developer videos - the original game suffered a bit in the fact that the majority people can't make well designed mario levels to save their lives (me included sadly), therefore I'd be great if Nintendo included a few videos of their developers explaining some best practices and pitfals when designing levels to help us along (ones from Shigsy would be especially appreciated)

3) regular events - similar to Splatfests etc, Nintendo could hold an event once every month or two where they announce a particular theme and creators have a week to submit their best level that matches the designated criteria. At the end Nintendo could announce a winner and a few runners up for the best designed levels and even hand out some prizes (I'm thinking eShop points). They could even go so far as to string all of the winning levels into a mini game along with an overworld map at the end of the year.

4) allow users to reskin characters and items themselves. This one's pretty unlikely but would add a huge amount of potential to the game.

I didn't play the original game later in the Wii U's life but did they ever implement a better way to search for user generated content within the game itself? That would definitely be a big addition for me.

A few of the ones mentioned by NL above, such as music creation tools etc would be wonderful also.

I haven't even played 15 hours in the original, and I'm sorry, because I loved the concept of making your own Mario. But this is a problem I have always had: I get bored too fast when creating things, and prefer to play what others have created. Because my imagination is limited, and when I finish I think "now what?", and get bored playing my own levels.

Maybe when my daughter is older and falls in love with Mario universe I'll be able to use it more, but there will be Super Mario Maker 2, so the first one might end up completely forgotten.

That's why I want 2 to be different enough, and not an enhanced version which is what it seems despite the name. Because I want reasons to go back to the Wii U game, which got lost in the backlog and the problem I mentioned.

Does anyone play or watch streams of Super Mario ROM hacks? I'm wondering if the Mario Maker dev's watch these and take notes, because some of the things being done in these ROM hacks really push the boundaries, doing all sorts of things you wouldn't find in the actual game itself.

this is a a strange one for me, I had the original on the Wii U and enjoyed making and playing levels. I traded it in as I got very bored with the game however, I have been following a chap on YouTube called Ryukahr and he plays levels his followers have made. It's made me realize how much i have missed making levels. I doubt I'll by a physical copy as I wont have the temptation to trade/sell and it's always nice to be able to just load up straight from the menu rather than popping a cart in

@Expa0 I hope music isn't tied to the level theme anymore, and you could pick from a variety of tracks from all Mario games. Like obviously Mario 64 or Mario Galaxy isn't going to be a level theme within the game, but I would love to have some music from those as an option.

Just had to repost your comment because that's exactly what I would want too, and it's not mentioned in the article but what I think is totally reasonable and welcome.

I don't think I've seen this one mentioned, but I'd like the option to makes tracks invisible during play. The way tracks look in SMM isn't something you see in any of the games, and sometimes you want the path to be unpredictable. Or having them appear as simple lines, like they actually do in games like SMW. Speaking of invisible, I'd also like to be able to switch off the shadows. It's sort of cute, but it spoils the feel of the levels really looking like they're from those games. Especially in the SMB3 style, they're just distracting.

It would be nice if, at least in the NSMBU style, you could place star coins. Maybe make them a variant of thew 10 coin? Just to have the option of an extra gameplay goal. They could be limited to 3 (like red coins are limited to 5).

How about mushroom platforms that raise or lower when stepped on, or ones that sway back and forth? The ability to designate a hidden area that appears solid until you find the entrance.

Other enemy types not used in SMM, ones that introduce different types of hazards, like Fuzzies, or Spikes spitting up and throwing spike balls, or Pokeys. And while we're at it, maybe add in blue Koopas.

I would love to see Nintendo have Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina playable in Mario Maker 2. The demand for them is high. There should be no more excuses not even in the 3D World style since Peach and Rosalina were playable in 3D World with no issues whatsoever.

@Heavyarms55Yeah, I wouldn't mind if things went that way.Crap on a bike, I've been out of a notebook charger until today (ASUS EeeBook, it's a tough one given it just so happens to have one of the most unique plugs in portable PC history). It hasn't been easy. Sorry for the late reply.